


her head's always on her shoulders

by youngerdrgrey



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Let Carol come home to her family, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 17:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18077414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngerdrgrey/pseuds/youngerdrgrey
Summary: tumblr useronellabellaasked:ooh imagine maria and monica starting to stargaze bc Monica insists she can see Carol up in space, and she makes up long elaborate stories about all the heroic things she's doingMaria’s fine most nights. She listens and nods and dreams, but one night, she couldn't play along anymore.





	her head's always on her shoulders

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr user **onellabella** asked: _ooh imagine maria and monica starting to stargaze bc Monica insists she can see Carol up in space, and she makes up long elaborate stories about all the heroic things she's doing_

.

.

They’d been on a blanket that night because the porch didn’t offer the best view of the whole sky. Bug spray thickened in their throats, but Monica used that as a reason to talk even louder. Faster to beat the cough building from too many nights out under the stars until way after her bedtime.

“She probably fights a hundred aliens a day,” Monica said. She propped herself up on her elbows to get a better look.

Maria’s eyebrows hiked up. “One hundred?”

“Yup, all over the galaxy. She flew through a spaceship, Mom; she can beat some aliens. And then she finds the little aliens that need somewhere to go and protects them, like she did with the Skrulls. Gosh, I hope her communicator can take pictures. We should’ve given her a camera. I want to see everything! Their new planet, and what a star looks like up close, and where we’ll all go on spring break.”

Maria’d tried a few times by then to slow down Monica’s daydreams. Subtle reminders that spring break would be a normal one this year. Maybe they’d go to Disney World, or Disneyland, if they felt really adventurous. But into space? How were they supposed to do that when Carol didn’t even leave a number? Did Carol even have a number? Phone service barely worked down here on Earth, so it sure as hell wasn’t working in space.

Monica laughed to herself. “We could go the moon, Mom! We could be the first women up there. Or anywhere!”

Maria scoffed. She meant to stifle it, thought she did, but Monica narrowed her eyes at the sound. Eyebrows stitched together as her lips pursed. A flush grew under Maria’s cheeks.

She sat up and reached out to rub a hand down Monica’s arm. “Great idea, baby. You know it is. And I believe it’s  _possible_ , but…” Carol left them for six years. Sure, she didn’t remember then, but what’s to say remembering will make any difference this time? What’s to say that she’ll come back at all?

“No but’s,” Monica said.

“ _Well_ ,” not a but, “your dreams and ideas might not come true this year. We don’t know if she’s coming back.”

Monica launched herself the rest of the way up. “ _When_  she’s coming back, Mom. She loves us. She’s coming back, and we’re all gonna see the stars together. She’s coming back. We’re her family. We’re her home.”

“You were a little young last time Carol had a purpose like this. She might want to be here, but she can’t turn down an opportunity to prove that she’s unstoppable. ‘Higher, further, faster’ at all times, Monica. I don’t want you to get your hopes up and then have them come….”

“Come what?” Monica sneered, but the tears lining her eyes stole some of the bite away. “Come crashing down? Because they already did that. And we got through that. We’ll get through this, and whatever comes next because that’s what families do. She’s coming back, and we’re going with her, and no one is dying again. Okay!?”

Her little chest heaved with shaking breaths. Her fists clenched into the blanket beneath them.

Maria sighed. She shouldn’t have said anything. Monica might be older this time, but that just means she understands a lot more of what could happen. She can remember the loss better this time.

“You wouldn’t let me leave the house after Carol last time. You wouldn’t sleep if I had to fly. Your alarms went off so long before mine just so that you could tell me you loved me and go over my flight plans before I left. Baby, we can’t do that again. I can’t….” Maria cleared her throat to get control back. “We can dream, and we can hope, but we’re not putting our lives on hold for that. If you believe that she’s coming back, great, but we don’t need the stars to have an adventure of our own. A  _life_  of our own. Do you hear me?”

Monica’s jaw clenched. Maria reached up and smoothed out some of the tension. Latched her eyes onto her daughter’s, and let the air carry her question a second time.

“Do you hear me?” she asked.

Monica dropped her eyes. Nodded. Whispered, “She’s coming back.”

Maria tucked Monica into her side, and Monica shook against her.

“I know.”

Maria just didn’t know if they would be around to see it when she did.

.

.

**Author's Note:**

> they've been through a lot, these two. what do you think, though? will Carol take them to the moons? will that make anything better? will someone (else) give us the 20k slow burn _long road back to each other_ fic that I'm barely resisting writing?


End file.
